What's the State of YOUR Black World?

Greetings and Peace to all,

It's Dr. Goddess reaching out and I want to know:

What's the State of YOUR Black world?

Here in the United States of North America, we're on the brink of having, literally, the first African American presumptive nominee for President of the United States of America. Barack the Vote, people.

But truth be told and on a much dimmer note, on this date (June 1, 1921), Black folks in Tulsa, Oklahoma were catching it. Because of class jealousy, racial hatred and the absence of law and order, an entire Black community was burned to the ground and hundreds of African Americans and so-called "Black Indians" were robbed of their inheritance. It started, of course, with a false accusation of a Black man raping a white woman.

Dr. Goddess did her dissertation on this topic and it remains close to the heart. Just a blast from the past to help you as you consider the state of your world.

So, tell me, what's the State of YOUR Black world?

I'm peeping the following:

Haiti is getting some assistance from the U.S. in a more official capacity.

I hear Africans in Toronto, Canada are doing their thing in a controversial move towards African-centered education.

Word is that in Bermuda, there's an African Diasporic Conference coming up.

Jamaica just finished their Calabash Festival for writers and I'm so sad that I missed it.

Ghana is preparing for a Pan-African Literary Festival.

Even Africans in China are preparing for the Olympics in Beijing.

So tell me, What's the State of YOUR Black World?

Holla back and I'll see you on November 19 in New Orleans!

Did You Attend the State of the Black World I in 2001?

Hey everybody!

What's the State of Your Black world? This is Dr. Goddess here and I wanna know:

Did you attend the State of the Black World Conference in Atlanta in 2001? Even though it was immediately after September 11th, there were hundreds of persons in attendance, including big celebrities like Danny Glover and Chris Tucker.

So tell me, were you there? And if so, what was your experience?


Holla back and I'll see you this November 19 in New Orleans!

It's On!

SAVE THE DATE!
State of the Black World Conference II
November 19 - 23, 2008
New Orleans, Louisiana

Oh yes, it's on, folks! New Orleans will be the only place to be Nov. 19 - 23, 2008! Click the pic to let it all begin!

Click Here for Details on Place, Space, Invited Guests and How YOU Can Get Involved!

Goals and Objectives

. Focus national and international attention on New Orleans and the Gulf in support of the right to return of evacuees/displaced persons and their heroic struggle to reclaim and rebuild their homes, neighborhoods and Cities.

**

· Provide an analysis of the socio-economic and political condition of Africans in America and the world as a basis for prescribing strategies for empowering and reconstructing our communities.

**

· Identify critical issues and crises affecting people of African descent communities and examine struggles and models which are currently addressing these vital concerns.

**

· Present models/prototype institutions for Black empowerment that can be utilized to effectively mobilize human and material resources to address current crises and rebuild our communities.

**

· Enhance IBW’s capacity to function as a Resource, Communications and Information Center to promote research, policy formulation, advocacy, inter-organizational /institutional /agency networking and collaboration, leadership development, training and technical assistance.

**

· Create and sustain a network of support committees within the U.S. and the Black World to advance the vision, mission and program of IBW as an engine of global empowerment.

**

· Promote inter-generational dialogue and engagement in the planning of SOBWC II and the follow-up.

**

· Adopt strategies for self-support resource and fund development to enable IBW to fulfill its mission free of dependence on government, foundation and corporate assistance

**

Institute of the Black World 21st Century Mission Statement

The Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) seeks to rekindle the historic legacy of scholar-activists, women and men, who founded the original IBW in 1970.

In that spirit, through research, policy and advocacy, IBW 21st Century is committed to building the capacity of the Black Community to struggle against racism, sexism and oppression of any form, to work for the social, political, economic and cultural uplift and development of Black America and the Global Black Community and an enhanced quality of life for all oppressed people. IBW is rooted in the values of cooperation, community and mutual respect. It is founded on the principles of self-determination, African humanism and social justice.

**

The struggle for social transformation through the creation of new relationships and institutions is central to our task. The objective of the struggle is to acquire and maintain power, to reconstruct our communities, to build viable and vital nations, to create greater unity among people of African descent and to transform our condition as oppressed people inspired by the vision of a new, non-exploitative social order.

**

Strategies for Implementation IBW will implement its mission by working with individuals, organizations, institutions and movements that aspire to transform and reconstruct communities of African descent. The Institute is both catalyst and facilitator as well as analyst and policy maker. Creating networks, facilitating linkages and fostering communications among individuals, between organizations and communities is an essential part of our mission.

**

The Institute does not necessarily seek to implement projects alone, rather to provide access to information and resources which allow local groups to initiate projects and build linkages with others doing similar work. Strategic partnerships and local support committees will also be vehicles for collaborative implementation of IBW projects and Initiatives.

Aime Cesaire Has Joined the Ancestors

The great Aime Cesaire (Negritude) has passed away. R.I.P., Mr. Cesaire.

An Open Letter from Rev. Jeremiah Wright to The New York Times

March 11, 2007
Jodi Kantor
The New York Times
9 West 43rd Street
New York, New York
10036-3959

Dear Jodi:

Thank you for engaging in one of the biggest misrepresentations of the truth I have ever seen in sixty-five years. You sat and shared with me for two hours. You told me you were doing a “Spiritual Biography” of Senator Barack Obama. For two hours, I shared with you how I thought he was the most principled individual in public service that I have ever met. For two hours, I talked with you about how idealistic he was. For two hours I shared with you what a genuine human being he was. I told you how incredible he was as a man who was an African American in public service, and as a man who refused to announce his candidacy for President until Carol Moseley Braun indicated one way or the other whether or not she was going to run.

I told you what a dreamer he was. I told you how idealistic he was. We talked about how refreshing it would be for someone who knew about Islam to be in the Oval Office. Your own question to me was, Didn’t I think it would be incredible to have somebody in the Oval Office who not only knew about Muslims, but had living and breathing Muslims in his own family? I told you how important it would be to have a man who not only knew the difference between Shiites and Sunnis prior to 9/11/01 in the Oval Office, but also how important it would be to have a man who knew what Sufism was; a man who understood that there were different branches of Judaism; a man who knew the difference between Hasidic Jews, Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews and Reformed Jews; and a man who was a devout Christian, but who did not prejudge others because they believed something other than what he believed. I talked about how rare it was to meet a man whose Christianity was not just “in word only.”

I talked about Barack being a person who lived his faith and did not argue his faith. I talked about Barack as a person who did not draw doctrinal lines in the sand nor consign other people to hell if they did not believe what he believed. Out of a two-hour conversation with you about Barack’s spiritual journey and my protesting to you that I had not shaped him nor formed him, that I had not mentored him or made him the man he was, even though I would love to take that credit, you did not print any of that. When I told you, using one of your own Jewish stories from the Hebrew Bible as to how God asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?,” that Barack was like that when I met him. Barack had it “in his hand.” Barack had in his grasp a uniqueness in terms of his spiritual development that one is hard put to find in the 21st century, and you did not print that.

As I was just starting to say a moment ago, Jodi, out of two hours of conversation I spent approximately five to seven minutes on Barack’s taking advice from one of his trusted campaign people and deeming it unwise to make me the media spotlight on the day of his announcing his candidacy for the Presidency and what do you print? You and your editor proceeded to present to the general public a snippet, a printed “sound byte” and a titillating and tantalizing article about his disinviting me to the Invocation on the day of his announcing his candidacy. I have never been exposed to that kind of duplicitous behavior before, and I want to write you publicly to let you know that I do not approve of it and will not be party to any further smearing of the name, the reputation, the integrity or the character of perhaps this nation’s first (and maybe even only) honest candidate offering himself for public service as the person to occupy the Oval Office.

Your editor is a sensationalist. For you to even mention that makes me doubt your credibility, and I am looking forward to see how you are going to butcher what else I had to say concerning Senator Obama’s “Spiritual Biography.” Our Conference Minister, the Reverend Jane Fisler Hoffman, a white woman who belongs to a Black church that Hannity of “Hannity and Colmes” is trying to trash, set the record straight for you in terms of who I am and in terms of who we are as the church to which Barack has belonged for over twenty years. The president of our denomination, the Reverend John Thomas, has offered to try to help you clarify in your confused head what Trinity Church is even though you spent the entire weekend with us setting me up to interview me for what turned out to be a smear of the Senator; and yet The New York Times continues to roll on making the truth what it wants to be the truth. I do not remember reading in your article that Barack had apologized for listening to that bad information and bad advice. Did I miss it? Or did your editor cut it out? Either way, you do not have to worry about hearing anything else from me for you to edit or “spin” because you are more interested in journalism than in truth.

Forgive me for having a momentary lapse. I forgot that The New York Times was leading the bandwagon in trumpeting why it is we should have gone into an illegal war. The New York Times became George Bush and the Republican Party’s national “blog.” The New York Times played a role in the outing of Valerie Plame. I do not know why I thought The New York Times had actually repented and was going to exhibit a different kind of behavior. Maybe it was my faith in the Jewish Holy Day of Roshashana. Maybe it was my being caught up in the euphoria of the Season of Lent; but whatever it is or was, I was sadly mistaken. There is no repentance on the part of The New York Times. There is no integrity when it comes to The Times. You should do well with that paper, Jodi. You looked me straight in my face and told me a lie!

Sincerely and respectfully yours,
Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.
Senior Pastor
Trinity United Church of Christ

The State of the Black World Conference will be Honoring Rev. Wright this November!

Drum Call

SAVE THE DATE!

State of the Black World Conference II

November 19 - 23, 2008

New Orleans, Louisiana

Click Here for Details on Place, Space, Invited Guests and How YOU Can Get Involved!

Goals and Objectives

. Focus national and international attention on New Orleans and the Gulf in support of the right to return of evacuees/displaced persons and their heroic struggle to reclaim and rebuild their homes, neighborhoods and Cities.

· Provide an analysis of the socio-economic and political condition of Africans in America and the world as a basis for prescribing strategies for empowering and reconstructing our communities.

· Identify critical issues and crises affecting people of African descent communities and examine struggles and models which are currently addressing these vital concerns.

· Present models/prototype institutions for Black empowerment that can be utilized to effectively mobilize human and material resources to address current crises and rebuild our communities.

· Enhance IBW’s capacity to function as a Resource, Communications and Information Center to promote research, policy formulation, advocacy, inter-organizational/institutional/agency networking and collaboration, leadership development, training and technical assistance.

· Create and sustain a network of support committees within the U.S. and the Black World to advance the vision, mission and program of IBW as an engine of global empowerment.

· Promote inter-generational dialogue and engagement in the planning of SOBWC II and the follow-up.

· Adopt strategies for self-support resource and fund development to enable IBW to fulfill its mission free of dependence on government, foundation and corporate assistance

Institute of the Black World 21st Century

Mission Statement

The Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) seeks to rekindle the historic legacy of scholar-activists, women and men, who founded the original IBW in 1970. In that spirit, through research, policy and advocacy, IBW 21st Century is committed to building the capacity of the Black Community to struggle against racism, sexism and oppression of any form, to work for the social, political, economic and cultural uplift and development of Black America and the Global Black Community and an enhanced quality of life for all oppressed people. IBW is rooted in the values of cooperation, community and mutual respect. It is founded on the principles of self-determination, African humanism and social justice. The struggle for social transformation through the creation of new relationships and institutions is central to our task. The objective of the struggle is to acquire and maintain power, to reconstruct our communities, to build viable and vital nations, to create greater unity among people of African descent and to transform our condition as oppressed people inspired by the vision of a new, non-exploitative social order.

Strategies for Implementation

IBW will implement its mission by working with individuals, organizations, institutions and movements that aspire to transform and reconstruct communities of African descent. The Institute is both catalyst and facilitator as well as analyst and policy maker. Creating networks, facilitating linkages and fostering communications among individuals, between organizations and communities is an essential part of our mission. The Institute does not necessarily seek to implement projects alone, rather to provide access to information and resources which allow local groups to initiate projects and build linkages with others doing similar work. Strategic partnerships and local support committees will also be vehicles for collaborative implementation of IBW projects and Initiatives.